263 sec. 1 - International Human Rights (Spring 2014)

Course Start: January 08, 2014Course Control Number (1Ls): 49810 (section 2)Course Control Number (Non-1Ls): 49808

This course critically examines the international and domestic laws, actors, and institutions that play a role in the protection of human rights. The course includes discussion of conceptual foundations of human rights; controversial topics in human rights law, such as humanitarian intervention, universal jurisdiction, and the death penalty; international, regional, and national mechanisms for the interpretation, implementation, and enforcement of human rights, including civil, criminal, and non-legal methods of redress; and challenges to human rights enforcement and strategies for promoting protection of human rights. Finally, the course will examine certain special topics in human rights such as human trafficking and international women's rights.

Professor Kathleen Kelly Janus focuses on advancing human rights and elevating the status of women around the world. An attorney, she has spearheaded numerous social justice initiatives. Professor Janus is a co-founder of Spark, a non-profit focused on building a community of young, global citizens promoting gender equality. From 2007 to 2011, Professor Janus helped launch and direct Stanford Law School’s international human rights clinics in Namibia and South Africa, supervising Stanford students on fieldwork projects related to HIV/AIDS, water rights and rural women’s issues. Professor Janus lectures widely on these topics and has taught courses at the University of San Francisco Masters of Arts International Studies Program, Stanford Law School and Santa Clara Law School. From 2009 to 2012 Ms. Janus was also the Pro Bono Manager at Covington and Burling, LLP, responsible for connecting the firm’s attorney’s with underserved California communities and Bay Area legal services organizations. A graduate of Berkeley Law School, Ms. Janus also graduated with highest honors from U.C. Berkeley with degrees in Political Science and Spanish.